The majority of people, myself included, understand dwelling on the past events, mistakes and failures is not unhealthy. The past can hold you back in life, hurt your present and ruin your future. We realize it but can’t stop worrying about it. Unless you are a very selfish person, it’s natural to be anxious about the things that happened in the past. In fact, dwelling on the past is vital at times, but if you spend more than two hours thinking about your past mistakes or events, it’s an unmistakable sign you need to change your attitude towards the past and start living in the present.

Poor health

Living in the past has many disadvantages. Poor health is one of them. When you think about the past events, chances are they are not happy and positive. Negative thoughts can slowly kill your health. Studies show people who tend to dwell on the past regularly have a worse health than those who live in the present. Living in the past can lead to a chronic stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, obesity and anorexia. You feel tired all the time and you are not able to stay productive at work and enjoy all those little happy things life offers you. If it sounds familiar to you, it’s time to let go of everything that happened in the past.

You miss out on many wonderful opportunities that are out there for you

If you have been fired, it’s not a reason to feel down or angry. Start looking for your dream job instead. While it’s vital to think over any mistakes you made at your previous work, avoid dwelling on them. When you spend days and nights thinking about your failures, you can miss out many great opportunities that life offers you. While you are moaning about your miserable life, someone can get your dream job.

If you are trying to survive a painful heartbreak, you shouldn’t allow yourself to dwell on the past as well. Just because your ex treated you badly doesn’t mean you should avoid dating. We need to experience bad dates and failed relationships in order to become wiser and build a strong relationship in the future.

You don’t have the power to change it

“I wish I could change it.” We often say it when something bad happened to us or people we love. No matter how hard you try, you don’t have the power to change it. Actually, no one can change the past. What’s done is done and you can’t go back to the past and change the situation. The only thing you can do is to accept it, learn from it and move on. You can also apologize, if you feel guilty of doing something wrong. Forgive yourself and others. Don’t waste your precious minutes dwelling on the past events. Life is so short that I’m sure you have more important things to think about and lots of goals to achieve. Focus on them instead.

You can ruin relationships

If you blame your parent, friend or sibling for what happened to you, they may disappear from your life. Even if that person is guilty, forgive them. The last thing you want in life is to be alone. However, if you become a toxic person, others will avoid you and stop respecting you. No one wants to be around a resentful woman so don’t let the past ruin your relationships.

You simply waste your life

Steve Jobs said, “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” Do you know how long you’ll live? No one knows. I hear about the deaths of young people and even children almost every day. This helps me realize that we should appreciate each second, minute and day of life. If you have a habit of living in the past, think about the death and all those people who have deadly diseases. I do agree, it’s a terrible thing to think over. However, it will help you realize that you don’t have time to waste your life. Start living in the present and forget about the past. It’s a pearl of wisdom everyone should keep in mind.

“Every second you spend dwelling on the past is a second of your present that you are missing.” I don’t know who said it, but I keep it in mind when I start worrying about the past events. Your past mistakes can help you improve yourself. But any other past events are not worth worrying about. I know firsthand that it’s hard to stop overthinking the past events, but remember you are strong enough to overcome it. What do you do when you start dwelling on the past? Do you think it’s healthy to overthink the past mistakes and failures? Share your thoughts with us.